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Neen let herself float back to the ground, she landed unsteadily at first, but the firmness of the pavement under her feet gave her an anchor and the disorienting sensation of the teleportation quickly subsided. Heliodor fell into a crumpled heap to her left and lay gasping for air. Vassal rushed over to him and offered him water from a bottle he pulled from his satchel.
Sliver dropped down just behind her and moved quickly so they were back to back and able to cover all directions at once. It was strangely sensual to have their sensitive wings touching when her adrenaline was already pumping.
"Um, Sliver...I think we are too late," she said as she pulled her enchanted pistol and leapt back into the air.
"I know," said Sliver following suit and drawing Tathra at the same time. "This place looks like it was vacated in a real hurry."
According to the map back in the library they should have landed in Epak directly above the long forgotten orcish graves. The street they had materialised in was typical of an outer city street. It was made up of a combination of small commercial establishments and apartment blocks. In the centre of the street was a large supermarket. Alarmingly there was not a single person to be seen and it was deathly quiet. She felt the wave of cold wash over her before she caught sight of the movement inside the supermarket.
"Oh shit!" she yelled as the first of a cascade of undead orcs came thundering out into the street, smashing through doors and windows as they went. "Vassal you better get Heliodor up and moving fast!"
Neen looked briefly behind her at Vassal who was desperately trying to drag Heliodor to his feet without success. There was no way he or Vassal was going to escape and there was not enough time for her to make them invisible. There was only one chance, she needed to meet the wave of undead head on and delay them as long as possible.
The cold sensation of death intensified as the undead orcs lumbered towards them. It filled her with a dread that was paralysing, but she gritted her teeth and forced her wings into motion. Behind her Vassal panicked as the unnatural cold reached him and he ran off towards a nearby shop in search of a good hiding place.
"Last one to die wins!" she said to Sliver as she burst forwards head on into the oncoming horde, spiralling between them with her gun blazing. Sliver watched her in awe at first, but then quickly snapped into action when she narrowly dodged the arc of a rusty scimitar. The thought of losing her was uncomfortable and it made him angry.
"Damn you Neen!" he cursed under his breath as he too burst into the orcs, slashing like a berserker with Tathra as he went until he was fighting by her side. The pair of them flitted in and out of the orcs in a lethal aerial ballet. Unfortunately the orcs were pouring out of the supermarket faster than they could return them to the afterlife. In no more than a minute they were swamped by sheer numbers and while they continued to play their dangerous game they were no longer distracting the orcs from Heliodor, who was now doing his best to crawl away in the opposite direction.
"I'm going to help Heliodor!" shouted Neen.
She broke free of the melee and flew back towards Heliodor in a last ditch attempt to protect him. She fired in quick succession at the few orcs who had almost reached him and they dissolved just feet short of their quarry. As she reloaded she had to dodge the gnashing teeth of another orc, intent on swallowing her whole. It came so close she could smell its decaying breath and it burned her skin.
Heliodor was desperately trying to get to his feet as another orc lurched toward him. As it made a dive for him Heliodor managed a clumsy swing of his staff in self defence and as it touched the orc it was disintegrated. In his weakened state however, the swing spun him off his feet again and before he could recover two more orcs were about to dive on top of him.
Suddenly Neen heard Sliver cry out as he was pummelled by the rotting fist of a nearby foe that had landed a lucky blow. With only Sliver in their way the orcs had quickly overwhelmed him. Tathra clattered to the pavement as he was thrown to the ground by the force of the strike. Without hesitation Neen angrily put a round between the eyes of the offending orc and several more who were about to crush him.
She cursed loudly. She was now stuck halfway between Heliodor and Sliver. There was no way she could get to both of them in time so she shot into the air with an electric burst of speed. She didn't know if her magic would have any effect on the zombie's, but she could not think of any other way. As she hovered above them she made her wings beat at an incredible speed until they started to glow. Then she closed her eyes and summoned the words of a spell.
The result was an intense flash of light that burst forth from her wings and enveloped everything in the street below. It was so bright and intense that it left the undead orcs stunned and they started to stumble about randomly. Neen dropped to the ground next to Sliver. The spell had sapped a lot of her energy and she landed heavily. Sliver was stumbling groggily to his feet. A nasty bruise had already appeared consuming the left side of his face and causing his left eye to start closing over. His nose was bleeding profusely. He was pale and looked as though he was going to vomit. Neen quickly grabbed Tathra and shoved it into his hands.
"Quickly we have to move!"
She propped him up so he could walk and the two stumbled towards Heliodor. Heliodor was now unfortunately in the same magically induced daze as the undead orcs that surrounded him. How she was going to drag the two of them to safety she had no idea. Then, just as they reached Heliodor, one of the nearby orcs suddenly turned purposefully towards them and groaned an undead groan. The spell was already wearing off! The orc lumbered towards them and others soon followed.
"It's useless Neen, just get out of here," ordered Sliver as he slumped dizzily to the ground again.
"No! Not now that..."
"This is what happens when you start caring about people other than yourself," he said angrily as he produced a plasma bomblet from his coat. "I said go!"
"You are such an ass hat Sliver, but I love you," she replied as she sat down next to him and placed her hand with his on the bomblet.
The orcs continued to close in and Neen was about to push down on the detonator with him when suddenly the orcs closest to them fell in quick succession as glowing white tipped arrows hit their marks causing them to dissolve into black mist as they fell.
"What the..." said Sliver as more enchanted arrows rained down upon the orcs.
Neen stood up and looked around to see the silhouettes of elves scattered across the nearby roof tops. Three more elves then suddenly emerged from a bank a little way down the street. They were dressed in black commando style fatigues and were heavily armed with various modern weapons as well as their traditional bows slung across their backs.
"Quickly!" yelled one of them who stayed at the front of the bank and beckoned them towards him. Neen dragged Sliver to his feet and helped him stumble towards the bank. The other two elves raced out to grab Heliodor, who was still recovering from the stupor caused by Neen's spell.
“I never thought I’d be happy to see an elf,” said Neen when they reached the front of the bank. The elf ignored her comment and urgently gestured for them to enter.
Her elation at being saved was short lived. Inside they were greeted by twenty or more heavily armed elves all standing at the ready with bows drawn and all pointing at her and Sliver.
"Put your thieving hands where I can see them," ordered a tall angry looking elf, the only one that was not pointing a weapon at them. He had the typical blue eyes and blond hair of a pure blooded elf and the mirthless demeanour to match. "If you twitch the wrong way or try and speak any magic you will both end up skewered!"
Heliodor was dragged in behind them and dropped unceremoniously onto the floor. The elves then quickly shut and locked the security doors so they were sealed in. Neen had a lot of questions, but kept her mouth shut. The prospect of being impaled to the front door of the bank by an elvish arrow a point blank range was something she preferred to avoid.
"I sugges
t you all cover your ears," ordered the elf. They all hesitantly complied and it was fortunate that they did because the explosion that followed sent a shockwave through the street that penetrated even the thick walls of the bank.
"What the hell was that?" asked Neen, barely beating Sliver to the punch.
"That was the sound of the orcs being buried under a few thousand tonnes of rubble."
"It won't stop them Jamar," replied Heliodor in elvish as he slowly stood up.
"Do not dare speak to me in the pure tongue!"
"I am Heliodor first born son of Emlar of the house Odari! I am still a noble and still your superior...cousin," replied Heliodor sternly in common tongue.
"You stopped being part of the house of Odari when you let your ambitions turn you into this abomination!”
“You are an arrogant unforgiving fool just like the others!”
“For someone who has just been caught assisting the two fairies who stole the sacred elixir, it’s you who is being arrogant. You should be on your hands and knees begging me not to end your life right now."
"You might try, but you would not succeed," growled Heliodor baring his sharp orcish bottom teeth.
"You see, you are nothing more than a beast! These two are wanted dead for their crimes, but you may still be granted mercy if you beg for it and if you give up your master.”
“If you think I am going to give up my chance at getting that elixir and then beg for the privilege you are sadly mistaken.”
“If you are not willing to give up your master then I have no choice. You will be executed on the spot!"
"No wait!" shouted a squeaky voice from behind the elves. Vassal came charging out from between them. Jamar signalled his men to hold their fire.
"Relax gnome I am not going to execute you, no doubt they bullied you into helping them."
Vassal reached up to grab Jamar's hand. As they touched Vassal let the ancient magical energy inside him seep out and flow into Jamar.
"Allow me to speak with them and I will get your information without the need for anymore senseless killing."
To everyone else in the bank there was no visible change in Jamar, but Vassal could see the magical blue aura glowing in his eyes as it entranced him.
"As you wish," replied Jamar staring down at the gnome.
Without hesitation Vassal quickly walked over to Heliodor, Neen and Sliver.
"I suggest if you are going to transport us you do it now Heliodor," he whispered.
They all quickly linked hands and Heliodor spoke the words of the spell.
"They are trying to escape!" yelled one of the other elves.
The alarm in his voice brought Jamar out of his trance and he suddenly snapped to attention.
"Kill them, fire, fire!"
Almost in perfect unison a row of arrows whistled lethally towards them, but they struck only the wall behind, as all four vanished.